Intangible Connections

Intangible Connections investigates forms of intelligence and complex communication systems between microorganisms, plants, technology and humans. The work aims to reframe relational aesthetics as an inter-species, co-active experience, drawing attention to the complexities of the natural world beyond the human centric framework of the Anthropocene.

The Arbutus unedo (Strawberry tree) is one of a select group of plants native to Ireland but not to Britain, known as the Lusitanian flora, owing to the fact that their nearest relatives are to be found on the Iberian Peninsula. The plant “highway” to Europe has long vanished, submerged by rising seas, with the land beyond the present southern shores of Ireland disappearing beneath the waves almost 9,000 years ago. This geographical rupture within the species references my own migrational patterns and the intensified sensation of disconnection brought about through the Covid-19 pandemic.

The final installation took the form of a life support system for five Arbutus plants, which incorporated spoken word recordings and coded light sequences. Bioelectrical activity readings from the plants were recorded through electrodes and sent to a microcontroller in an ongoing process of experimental sonification. 

After the event these trees were planted together as a group on Sherkin Island.

Technical Support: Dan Guiney